THE UNCONQUERED. To 31 March.

Tour.

THE UNCONQUERED
by Torben Betts.

Stellar Quines Tour to 31 March 2007.
Runs 1hr 35min No interval.
Review: Timothy Ramsden 3 March at Arcola Theatre London.

A whirl of domestic and political turmoil.
One aspect of growing-up is that home and parents stop seeming pretty much all the world and become some kind of 2-dinensional obstruction in a new generation’s way. The teens, however colourful in some ways, are a time for being black-and-white when it’s a matter of different generations’ views.

So it’s no surprise the middle-class routine of her parents annoys the Girl in Torben Betts’ new play, visiting London mid-tour with Scotland’s Stellar Quines Theatre Company. She’s first seen looking over a doll’s house to the side of the stage; looking back at the childhood solidity she’s outgrown.

For, in Keith McIntyre’s design, the actual home is largely skeletal, just a couple of walls filled in with 2-dimensional black-and-white drawn objects. These are disproportionate; the mantelpiece clock gigantic above a smaller fireplace. (Who remembers a fireplace? But a clock…).

Then Betts adds another element. The daughter’s anger rejects her parents’ political complacency, so when a revolution breaks out they take opposite sides. Enter a soldier toting a (2D) rifle; she protests while her parents tremble. There’s no direct reference but the repeated idea of Freedom enforced at the end of a gun-barrel resonates with Western involvement in Iraq.

Rape, protestations of love, painful pregnancy and death ensue, leaving a terrible legacy. It’s amazing the play sustains its forceful style throughout, but it works as a prolonged, increasing howl of rage. Largely this is owing to the vigorous language, patterned, with repeated phrases. It can represent a mind locked in routine or fear. Or become like the march of feet; at one point the language seems aurally to morph into tramping troops.

Director Muriel Romanes ensures that pace and energy never flag, while observing the switches and changes in Betts’ script. Maintaining the ambiguity of a parable and the (2D) concreteness of reality, this is a powerful study of individual revolt against society and political forces. The impact comes close at times to Howard Barker in its fury; more accessible and without Barker’s moments of keen, cruel humour. But full of the savagery and velocity the situation and style demand.

Girl: Pauline Turner.
Mother: Jane Guernier.
Father: Kevin McMonagle.
Soldier: Nigel Barrett.

Director: Muriel Romanes.
Co-Director/Movement: A C Wilson.
Designer/Visual Artist: Keith McIntyre.
Lighting: Jeanine Davies.
Sound: Pete Vilk.
Voice coach: Linda Wise.
Associate visual artist: Cat Maddocks.

2007-03-05 17:13:28